By friend I figured Jay meant one of his guy friends from one of his classes.
I certainly did not expect him to show up with a girl.
So, I stand there, a twinge of jealousy boiling in my stomach as I look at Jay and his friend standing on my porch. I snap out of if it eventually and greet them. "Vanessa Hollbrook, right?" I ask her.
"And you said she wouldn't know me," Vanessa playfully hits Jay's shoulder with her fist. I slowly curl my fist into a ball. I don't know what's gotten into me and why her being here is bothering me so much. It's not like I'm dating Jay. He's allowed to date whoever he wants.
"I don't know who Sarah does and doesn't know!" Jay says.
"Anyway," I roll my eyes at Jay and direct my attention to Vanessa. "Welcome to casa de O'Henry." I wave my hand to the living room, which is in a constant state of disaster. Clothes are folded on the coffee table, just waiting to be put away. Connor and Nick are spread across the couch and loveseat in various stages of their meals, either dessert or a second helping of nuggets. A yet-to-be-assembled train set sits half in and half out of the box in front of the television, which is currently showing reruns on Cartoon Network.
Jay, Vanessa, and I walk through the short hallway into the kitchen/dining room to find Tony and Miranda mid-make out. "Good Lord," I mutter as I go check on the lasagna. The rest of them chatter around the table and patiently wait for the lasagna to finish. "So, Jay, I heard you stumbled upon the soccer fields the other day," Tony chimes in.
When I came home last Saturday, I told Tony about I was pretty sure Jay showed up there on purpose. Tony waved me off initially, but as I told him the rest of the story, he seemed to think that Jay might have a little crush on me.
"He does not!" I had said, even though I hoped just a little bit that he did.
"He hasn't really said anything, but no one else has ever helped you do the dishes. Also, I don't even go to the boys' games, and he did, so obviously he wasn't going for the soccer atmosphere."
That was the extent of the conversation, but Tony validated my views on the matter. Now, though, that validation means squat since he shows up to my dinner with some girl. A very good-looking girl for that matter.
That frustration almost causes me to grab the lasagna pan without potholders, but my senses kick in at the last minute and pull me out of my frustrated haze. I plop the pan down in the center of the table with an audible thud.
I don't really contribute to the conversation; I just wallow in a shallow pool of self-pity at my end of the table. I catch snippets of conversation pertaining to me here and there, but I just smile and nod.
Dinner ends when Connor and Nick come running in, asking the boys to play football with them out back. The twins have never really shown any interest in football, and only showed interest in soccer because that meant they got Mom all to themselves for a few hours a week.
Miranda says she has to leave and go home as soon as the boys all go out the sliding glass doors from the kitchen to the backyard. Miranda has been to a few dinners over the last couple of weeks, and I still have yet to figure her out because she always has to leave early. At least I no longer run the chance of walking in on Tony and some girl having after-dinner-sex down in his room since Miranda always leaves early.
So that leaves Vanessa and I, who sweetly asks if she can help me clean up. No wonder why he likes her, she loves to help clean dishes. They're two peas in a freakin' pod.
I collect the plates and such and start rinsing them off. "I think it's really great what you're doing with the boys and all," Vanessa says. She catches me off-guard because I didn't really know she knew the extent of our situation. "Jay told me on the way over here."
"Oh, well thanks," I have to force myself to smile. Why is Jay telling my life story to some girl? What is this boy's deal? "So, you and Jay, huh?"
"Wha-? No," she shakes her head. "There is no 'me and Jay'. I'm just helping him with his English project and to compensate me for helping, he wanted to give me the gift of the world's best lasagna, which he did by the way."
So they're not dating. I don't know whether I should be happy or not. I have a little crush on him, that much is obvious, but I have too much on my plate to pursue anything of the sort. So, I just let it slide and play it cool. "Oh, I just kind of assumed."
Vanessa smiles and loads a few things into the dishwasher before stating, "If Jay likes anyone, my hunch would be that it's you."
Join the club, I want to say because Tony already thinks that as well, but instead I say, "I don't know. Jay and I are friends, I suppose, but I doubt he likes me like that. We hardly know each other."
"That's the thing," she grins. "He wants to get to you know you better." Vanessa shuts the dishwasher and leans with her back against the counter, eyeing me.
I shrug and respond, "Maybe, but why would he have a crush on me when he could have a crush on someone like you?" It's a valid point. It really is because Vanessa has beautiful brown skin and darker, straighter hair than me. She's curvier and bigger breasted compared to my measly B cups. She takes the time to put on make up and do her hair and as a result is gorgeous. She's also ambitious with her senior class presidency, last month's homecoming queen victory, and a star basketball player status. She's a teenage boy's dream, but as for me, I'm like that cousin you take to prom.
"He sees you have something special that girls like me don't have," Vanessa gently says.
I look out the window, away from Vanessa and all her valid points, to Jay and Tony and the twins. Connor steals the ball from Nick and runs to Jay who picks him up under his arm and runs him into their end zone, scoring a touchdown. Their end zone dance is the chicken dance, presumably making fun of Tony and Nick. Connor looks at Jay like he's Superman, and his look gives me butterflies in my stomach because it's so adorable.
I may not know much about the mysterious Jay Keely, and vice versa, but maybe, just maybe that can be remedied.
---------------------
I wake up with that sensation of falling, except I wasn't actually falling off the Empire State Building sized pile of laundry that was in my dreams. Once I come to a little more, I realize the television is stuck on the DVD selection menu. The twins and I must've fallen asleep watching the movie on the couch after Tony left.
I try to get up but then feel a head digging into my side and a snoring face tucked near my knees. The one digging into my side is Connor and Nick is practically in my lap. I grab Connor's glasses off his face and put them on the coffee table directly in front of us just for good measure.
I'm not buying him another pair of glasses. I've already had to buy three new pairs this year alone, and it's only October.
I grab a pillow from atop the back of the couch and slide it under Nick's head while I move my legs to the side. Pushing Connor's head away from me takes a little more effort because I don't want to snap his neck, so I have to put my hands on both his shoulder and his head for added support. I set his head down on another pillow once I stand up from the couch.
They're so content and so less obnoxious when they're asleep.
I grab their matching Avengers blankets from the floor and place one on each of them. I pull up their blankets right to their shoulders so they'll be warm because sometimes it gets really chilly down in the living room for some reason. As I finish that, my phone lights up and starts vibrating from where it's wedged in the couch cushions.
I very quickly snatch it and see that Tony's calling me. He went out to yet another party this evening and is probably calling for a designated driver. But when I answer it, the voice greeting me certainly isn't Tony's. "Sarah, hey it's Jay."
"Hey...Jay," I furrow my eyebrows in confusion and walk into the kitchen so I don't wake the boys. "What's going on? Is Tony okay?"
"Oh he's fine," Jay says. I hear Jay talk to someone else who I'm guessing is Tony, "Say hi to your sister, Tony."
"Hi Saraaaah," Tony almost inaudibly slurs. Jay comes back on the line and addresses me this time. "So, obviously, he's a little drunk, and he can't remember which house is yours and I can't either, so could you, like, stand out in the driveway or something?"
"Um, yeah. Hold on." I hastily make my way out to the foyer. I have to put some shoes on and turn on some lights, but I make it outside relatively quick. I shuffle out to the edge of the drive where our concrete driveway meets the asphalt road. "I'm here," I say into the phone.
"Okay, I'm going to hang up now," he says with a frustrated tone to his voice. Tony always has been of absolutely no use when he's drunk, acting like a toddler and whining when someone cuts him off.
I see headlights shortly after we hang up and Jay's overly large Escalade pulls into the driveway. He puts it in park and gets out, heading straight for the passenger side door. I follow him to find Tony in a drunken disarray in the passenger seat. His brown waves are mussed up and his blue eyes can't focus on Jay or I. Though he has a smile plastered on his face, he looks like he might throw up any minute.
"Jesus, Tony," I mutter as we start to extract him from the car. Jay stands in front of the opening and Tony kind of slumps into his arms. I help steady him when he puts his full weight on his feet. I take one arm while Jay takes the other and we lead him into the house.
I shush both Jay and Tony when we stumble through the living room and into the kitchen. We stop at Tony's door down to his room in the basement, trying to figure out how to accomplish this. "You could kind of piggy-back it," I suggest. Jay eyes me like I just said let's overthrow the world.
"Just wrap his arms around your neck like in a piggy-back, but he doesn't wrap his legs around your waist." I explain. "Then you step down each step one at a time while he just kind of drags behind you."
"Alright, let's do it," Jay nods. He stands upright, and I help transfer Tony fully onto him. Tony groans as he positioned, but he instantly falls asleep when his head hits Jay's back.
Jay takes a deep breath and starts down the stairs. On the third step, he falters just slightly, but he manages to regain his balance and move on. I follow him down the steps. When Jay finally reaches the end of the stairs, he waits for me to catch up so I can help the effort. We haul him the few steps to Tony's bed and practically throw him on it.
I untie Tony's shoes and take them off, throwing them in the corner of his basement/room. Because the twins were very unexpected and Tony was the oldest, he ended up in the finished basement turned bedroom. It does have its advantages, though. He has his own bathroom and a room the size of two bedrooms, not to mention the freezer choked full of food.
I roll Tony to his side so he doesn't drown in a pool of his own saliva, and pull the blanket up to his chest. His eyes flutter for a moment, but then close completely. I turn to Jay who's teetering nervously back and forth on his feet. "Come on. He'll be fine," I tell him. I start up the stairs and he follows.
When we reach the top, I figure he'll continue on through the house to get in his car and go home, but he plants himself in place by the kitchen island. I walk to the other side of the island and ask him, "You okay?"
Clearly, he wasn't paying attention because his eyes snap to attention from where they were pointed at his feet. A small, faint smile appears when he says, "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine."
I raise an eyebrow at him. He looks disheveled and unalert. He reminds me of Tony when he would come home...
Drunk.
Jay is drunk.
I grin and laugh at him. "Why won't you admit you're drunk?"
"I didn't want you to think less of me," he sighs. Jay's head droops in what appears to be shame.
I cross the kitchen to the cabinet where I keep the medicine. I push through Connor and Nick's prescriptions to find the bottle of headache relievers I always give Tony when he's hungover. I grab the bottle from the cabinet and fill a glass with water and set both of them in front of Jay. "I can't think less of you when I don't think more of you."
"How cruel," he smiles as he downs the pill with a single swig of water. I smile back at him and say, "That's no way to talk to the woman who just gave you potential hangover relief."
He raises his hands in surrender. "Forgive me?"
"I suppose," I roll my eyes at him. He checks his phone and I see the time displayed on the screen. It's almost two in the morning. "I should probably get going," he turns to leave the kitchen but I reach out and grab the fabric of his hoodie, stopping him in his tracks.
Apparently, he's not as light on his feet when he's drunk, because when I pull on his hoodie, he stumbles back into me. I put my hands on his chest to help keep him upright when I realize how close we are. His hands somehow landed on my wrists and one of his legs is between mine. Our heads are close to where if I just leaned in a little bit more, I would be able to kiss him.
I feel my face getting red with that last one.
I remove my hands from his chest, but his hands continue their grasp on my wrists a moment too long. He takes a step back and puts his hands in his pockets. "Did you...uh...need something else?" Jay stammers.
"Oh...um...Well, you probably shouldn't drive home since you're...." I lose my train of thought because I notice his stormy blue eyes completely focused on me. His lips are slightly parted like he wants to say something else but keeps deciding against it.
"Drunk?" he offers.
"Yes, because you're drunk," I manage to pull it together. Slowly, he nods and agrees that he probably shouldn't drive anymore.
"I'll just crash on the couch?" He asks. I shake my head and say, "Unless you want to move the boys and risk waking them up, go ahead."
"Then what do you suggest?"
A mieschievious grin pulls at the corners of my lips. "How do you feel about bunk beds?"